PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER INTERVIEW: Francis Specker

PAST

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: In your early years of high school, were you involved in the yearbook ? What sparked your interest in photography? Do you recommend all the weekend photographers out there to initially stick with the subjects they know and build from there? Do you have any suggestions on how to build that progression? How did you progress to where you are today?

FRANCIS SPECKER: I wasn’t involved in photography until my first year of college. My friend had a 35mm film camera, a Canon AE-1 with a 50mm lens that he let me play around with. I took a workshop on how to develop and print black and white film. I was amazed by the process of photography in the darkroom. That’s how I basically got interested in photography. While I was in college I joined the student newspaper and on the first assignment I got my photo on the front page. From there on I was hooked.

As far as weekend photographers, I think whatever thing that they are passionate about, is what they should photograph. I was always an avid newspaper reader. I always loved sports. Those passions have turned into my profession as a news and sports photographer. The thing about photography is that it’s not an easy way to make money so if you have the passion and the motivation, that can push you through those tough times that every photographer faces.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: Do you still have photos taken from the early years when it all started? What were your subjects? Are the pictures online to share with everyone to compare with your work today?

FRANCIS SPECKER: I still have some photos from when I started out. I even have the contact sheets. I shot mostly street photos in New York. It was what I knew since I grew up there. I was always fascinated by people and how they interacted with the environment. At the student newspaper, the kind of photography was typical on campus stuff like football games and concerts. All taken with black and white film and printed by myself. The beauty of working at a newspaper is the structure of getting assignments, meeting deadlines and getting feedback from your published work. It’s better than any photo school. Since these photos are almost 30 years old, you won’t find them anywhere but in my files. I recently showed them to students during a lecture to show how I started out. It was something as photographers just starting out that they could relate to.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: What books did you read at the beginning of your photography career that helped you prepare for today? Title of book, author and price of book please…just messing around, the title of the books should be fine thanks to google search. Do you recall any other resources that you referred to heavily to help you prepare for the photography business? We want to know what the must have resources are to fully equip ourselves when and if we ever plan to take that leap of faith.

FRANCIS SPECKER: The first photo books that I read and was attracted to were by photographers like Diane Arbus, Garry Winogrand and Robert Frank. They shot in a gritty black and white street style that I could understand. Robert Frank’s The Americans, Garry Winogrand’s Public Relations, any book by Diane Arbus. Later I studied classic photojournalism books by Eugene Smith, Larry Burrows, Henri Cartier-Bresson. I’m not sure if looking at photographs will help you in a career path as a working photographer, but it gives you a sense of history and a direction about how to approach photography in a story-telling fashion.

The business of photography is something totally different. The best business lessons I learned was when I worked in a restaurant. The owner was a very shrewd businessman who knew every trick in the book to reduce overhead and turn a profit. He understood marketing and customer relations from a hands-on perspective. Running any business is a combination of many things that are not in any way related to the art of making photographs. I recommend either taking small business classes at a local college or learning from a successful businessman.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: What was your very first professional photography job? Was this purely out of luck that you were at the right place at the right time? Was there a hidden plan to penetrate the market from within? Would you recommend it to new photographers trying to break into the market and that are having difficulty breaking in? Once you had your first job under your belt was it difficult to get another gig? What did you do to acquire more work besides providing awesome images? Have you ever considered being agency represented? If you are agency represented how did you attract a photography agent?

FRANCIS SPECKER: Before I became a freelance photographer, I worked for newspapers for over 16 years. So it was a slow progression of learning on the job, no overnight successes. My first paying job was as a photographer for the publication department at the university I was attending. (University of Buffalo) They were aware of my work from working at the student newspaper and they hired a couple of students from time to time to help out their staff of one full-time civil servant photographer.

I knew they were hiring photographers and put together a portfolio of pictures and maybe clips from the student newspaper. I showed them my work and I was hired. So it was a combination of networking, knowing who to call and having the experience and portfolio of the kind of work they needed that got me my first job. That formula still works today. I worked there for two years. That provided me with some experience and more importantly, images that showed that I could handle assignments.

That lead to some freelance work with the local United Press International and Associated Press bureaus in Buffalo, NY. There I did real assignments like covering pro football and pro hockey jobs for the largest wire service agency in the world, under really demanding deadlines. That was in the pre-digital days, where you had to shoot for ten minutes of a game and leave to develop and transmits images for the wire.

Even with that kind of experience, it was not easy getting a full-time staff job at a newspaper. I applied to maybe 100 newspapers around the country and was rejected by all. I finally got a job at a tiny newspaper in a small town in New York State. The thing that impressed the person who was hiring me was that I had a front page photo in USA Today a few days before my job interview. So there was some luck involved. My early work in newspapers were as a full-time employee, I didn’t have to constantly look for work like a freelancer does. Having worked for so many years as a full-time newspaper photographer for so many years made it easier to transition to becoming a full-time freelancer. I understood the needs of photo editors and working in the business gave me contacts.

I currently work with an agency in New York, Landov, that syndicates my photos to magazines and newspapers all over the world. I didn’t attract the agency, I realized that I had work that needed to be sold and looked around for an agency that fit my needs. Agencies don’t come knocking on photographers doors. Most of them have way too many photographers already. I contacted a bunch of agencies and although all of them realized that I had photos they wanted to represent, most of them I didn’t really want to work with for a variety of reasons. The agency works for the photographer, not the other way around. So finding a good agency that is a good fit is hard to do. My advice is to do your research carefully on picking an agency and make sure you talk to other photographers that are represented to see if they are satisfied. I can’t say enough on how important an agency is to the type of work I do, which is editorial photography. They have found me new clients and provided with me re-sales of images that would otherwise sit on a hard drive wasting away.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: After your first job, What was the next photography gig you obtained and how did you go about your execution? Did you apply all that you’ve learned in all the books you’ve read ? Did you buy more books or accessed any more resources to help you jump to your next big step in the game of photography? What tools do you recommend that are a must have that helped you get to where you are present day?

FRANCIS SPECKER: The biggest thing on any photography gig, is not execution. It’s really about the client. The client is paying and your job is at the end of the day is to make that person happy. The whole experience is important. The client is the final critic on how the job went. And new clients are hard to come by. Keeping clients is the key to a successful business. I didn’t read any books about this. I’m sure there is probably a lot of books you can read. Most of what I learned is from experience. When I was a teenager I worked in sales on a retail level, and I worked in service at a restaurant. Even if you have a dead end job working at McDonald’s you can learn a lot that you can apply to your career as a photographer, or any career for that matter. Try to learn everything about marketing, advertising, customer relations, branding, whatever, whenever you can. That will serve as an education that even Harvard Business School can’t teach you. The real difference between successful pro photographers is that they pay attention to those details and not necessarily what the latest photo equipment is.

PRESENT

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: What keeps the money rolling? Your brand is possibly a huge factor to your longevity? Am i right? Do you have any recommendations on brand building for weekend photographers and/or Photographers in general.

FRANCIS SPECKER: I survive on a combination of assignment work and syndication of previous work. I have over 40,000 images at my photo agency that generates income and I try to maintain my current clients as well as look for new clients. In editorial work, getting a diversity of clients gives you protection from the ups and downs of the business. I’d rather have ten clients than one or two big clients.

I treat every assignment like it’s the biggest. There is no small assignments. When I worked as a full-time employee, I could coast. Not anymore. Brand building is more than putting a logo on your website/business card. It’s really about trust. If your client trusts you, you will keep that client. Why do big box stores and chain restaurants/hotels are successful as a brand? Because people trust the brand, they know what they are getting before they enter the store.

Personal branding works the same way. You want you client to feel confident about what they are getting when they hire you, even if they never worked with you before. It’s a continual process. I think most of it’s developing a relationship with the client. Talking on the phone, meeting them in person, connecting with them in some way, that’s brand building.

I like the analogy of a politician meeting and shaking hands with one voter at a time to win an election as a metaphor of how one should network and build their brand.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: What is currently in your photography bag? Please be as detailed as possible for those starting out photographers that want to be just like you. From your photography equipment arsenal, what do you bring most of the time for your commercial shoots?

FRANCIS SPECKER: Not sure if my camera bag, or bags is really any indication of what a photographer should have or not have. I try to tailor my equipment to what the job is. If it’s a big sporting event, I will bring my Think Tank roller with a Canon 400mm f2.8, 2 70-200mm f2.8, ( one for a remote camera) a 16-35mm f2.8, maybe a 50mm f 1.4, 2x converter, 1.4 converter, 2 Canon 1Dmk 2’s, 1 Canon 5d for wide angles, a bunch of pocket wizard multi-maxs for remote cameras, A magic arm, or two, a couple of ball heads, a few super clamps, bunch of wires/cables to make everything work, a foot switch to activate remote cameras, Giotta blower, lens cloth, cable ties for safety. Bunch of 2gb Sandisk cards. And another bag for computer stuff. Mac Book Pro with Sprint EVDO card for remote transmitting, card reader, bunch of software like Photoshop CS4, Photo Mechanic, etc.

I have a bags for other jobs. I have a big Tamrac rolling studio bag for lighting with Dyna-lite Uni-400’s with light stands and modifiers. Another bag of Strobist like stuff, with Nikon SB-24’s, a Norman 400b battery strobe with ringflash and a head that I can put a big softbox. Another bag with little nano lightstands for the speedlites. Plus an assortment of light modifiers like grids for both Dyna-lites and speedlites, umbrellas, softboxes, a beauty dish.

And there is a slew of lenses, from 15 fish-eye to the 400mm 2.8 that I use. I probably have way too much stuff, and I’m not going to even try to mention the other stuff like 4×5, Hasselblad, film stuff in detail.

Given a choice, I like to use my Canon 5D with my 50mm f1.4 lens. I rather use the small Nikon strobes than the big ones. Maybe that’s my newspaper background. For portraits, my 24-105mm lens is great for getting a bunch of photos of someone who has only 5 minutes.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: What is your favorite image in your current portfolio and why? How did you approach the execution? Give us a glimpse on how you construct an image from scratch.

FRANCIS SPECKER: Right now my favorite image is a portrait of the UFC fighter Rampage Jackson. This is what I would call the quick and dirty method of portrait photography on location. I had about a minute with him after a press conference at a room in the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

I set up two Nikon SB-24’s with Honl grids on each and the heads zoomed out for a narrow throw of light. Both on little Manfrotto nano light stands, triggered by Pocket Wizards. I wanted a hard light coming from above right with some kicker on the left. I was working with a plain wall and needed the grids to provide a more dramatic light that faded to black on the edges. I shot with my Canon 5d in raw mode with the 24-105 lens.

After the press conference, I wrangled the fighter to the back of the room where I had my mini-studio set up. The first thing I told him was exactly what I was going to do. So he knew exactly what I was going to do beforehand. I think doing that instills confidence to the subject. I needed straight on, some profile, both horizontal and vertical shots. I reminded him of the last meeting we had and joked around with him. Got my shots and let him go. Took maybe 2-3 minutes of him time.

The rest of the execution was importing the images in Photoshop using the Adobe raw plug-in. I desaturated the image a little for a stark look. The image was used as the lead photo in a full page in the December 2008 issue of Atlantic Monthly.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: Is having your own studio space essential for any commercial photographer. Do you have a photography studio of your own? If so, what do you look for in a photography studio?

FRANCIS SPECKER: I’m a location photographer, so I don’t use studios at all. My studio is wherever I am.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: What types of commercial gigs are you currently involved in now and how did they surface? What are your recommendations on how we photographers diversify their product offering from Commercial and stock in today’s marketplace?

FRANCIS SPECKER: Currently I’m doing a mix of self-assigned work that I have passion for, like images of the UFC/cage fighting/Mixed Martial Arts, news, sports and entertainment  assignment coverage of Hollywood, like award shows like the Academy Awards, some movie premieres, and on set work on CBS’s Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

It’s hard to give advice on how to get that type of work for a photographer starting out. The diversification might come on a photographer’s personal interests. I love sports, so I shoot it. I live near Los Angeles, so entertainment work is easier to get than say if I was living in Kansas. Some of it’s going to be geographical. I don’t shoot a lot of skiing, living in Southern California, for example. If you like people, then portraits will be more you thing. I really don’t do anything in retail photography services, so weddings isn’t something I do or get offered to do.

FUTURE

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: What are your immediate goals as a photographer and artist? Are you planning on releasing any how-to books? What are your recommendations to people thinking about starting a photography book?

FRANCIS SPECKER: I’m working on a photo book of cage fighting/mma fighters. I haven’t completed the photography yet, and I’m still looking at publishers/self-publishing and/or collaboration with a writer. I’m finding that there are many strategies in marketing books that I have still yet to grasp. The traditional publishing route is not the only vehicle for photographers anymore. I don’t really have any answers for photographers looking to start a book themselves since I’m currently looking for solutions myself. I would love to share my experiences with others when that happens.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: A lot of professional photographers are starting to run workshops. Will you start offering workshops in the future? I know TIME is not your friend, but there are ways to get around that maybe offering internship opportunities to intern with you for a small fee during one of your paid shoots. Or maybe provide an opportunity to be a spectator for one of your weekend shoots?

FRANCIS SPECKER: I think workshops are great idea for photographers considering that there are more photographers than ever before needing some guidance and willing to pay for it if presented in a way that is both informational and fun. The key is marketing and getting students to pay for that service. I think the model of vacation/workshop in an interesting venue would be appealing. I have no immediate plans to be involved in a workshop, but if a opportunity would arise in the future, I would look into it.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: I am sure you’ve read many articles discussing how in the future videography and photography will be one? What are your thoughts on that and how will you evolve to the new morphed medium?

FRANCIS SPECKER: I think photography and videography are two distinct disciplines. The still image will still be used in point of purchase displays, packaging, billboards, book publishing, direct mail ads, graphic design, just to name a few. Videos are becoming a bigger influence on the web, which is not 100% of where photography takes place. So if your business is internet-centric, you would think still photography is dead and being replaced by videos. So because of the internet there are more points of distribution for video content providers. I consider myself a visual artist and video is something I’m training myself to be more proficient in. I’m not sure if I will ever migrate to video as a means of income in the near future. But a new skill set is always nice to have, especially in a tough economy.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: Ok so thinking about the future is very important in any endeavor especially the photography business. What do you suggest photographers do in the future to solidify their presence in the industry? What will you do to ensure that you remain on top, not taking into account your photography niche?

FRANCIS SPECKER: Number 1 will always be thinking of ways to provide customers with services that are satisfied with and relevant. Investing in oneself is really important. Photographers who didn’t learn digital photography a few years back, missed the boat. They didn’t invest in new techniques and methods. I’m always amazed when I hear a fellow photographer who doesn’t know what SEO (search engine optimization) means, or never heard of Twitter. Yeah, they might think they don’t need to know that now because they are successful, but in the future there will be less gate keepers to buyers and sellers of photography and a Google search is how photo buyers will be searching for photographers and photos. If you don’t exist on Google, you don’t exist. The mistake is trying to learn this stuff after the phone stops ringing. Think of what the trends are and prepare for them now, not when it’s too late. The photographers who invest in themselves and work extra hard on customer service will survive the current recession and be positioned to take advantage of the economy when it rebounds.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: Thank you again for your time and giving back. What would you like to leave for us photographers to think about when moving forward with photography for the future? If you have any words of wisdom will be appreciated.

FRANCIS SPECKER: For photographers, the photography is the easy part. The hard part is everything else. The business part. The sales part. The accounting part. The taxes. Marketing. Advertising. Networking. Social Media. Graphic design. Pricing. The cost of doing business. The weak link will hurt you. If you can’t handle this stuff, don’t become a professional photographer. Keep you day job. But if you like the challenge of owning your own business, being your own boss, making decisions on your own, then you love being a freelance photographer.